Greek industry: Improved business expectations

According to the Greek Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), in February, there was improvement of the business expectations in the industry field anew. The index recorded the highest performance over the last ten years, relevant official data report.

This development also supports the overall improvement in the economic climate indicator in the economy, the institute notes, as a number of sectors show moderate optimism. And of course it is linked to the positive growth rates recorded in the economy since 2017.

The Business Indices Index for Industry is set at much higher levels in February than in the first month of the new year, at 103.1 (98.5) points, up from 91.8 per cent in the previous year. This is the highest performance since September 2007.

Particularly so for the industry, the strengthening of the international environment should be taken into account too. This favours export firms and diffuses them into the related industries. Indeed, a certain feature of the current economic climate is that the overwhelming majority of countries in the world are in a development phase, a phenomenon also referred to as “synchronized global growth”. Enhanced demand and the continuous recovery of international trade is, moreover, a common denominator of the faster growth of developing economies, and it also favors the domestic industry.

More specifically, exports of Industrial Products showed an increase of 9.8% in January-November last year, with their value reaching € 11.1 billion, from € 10.1 billion a year earlier. This increase is explained by the increase in international demand for Industrial Goods Classified by Raw Materials by 16.9%, with a value of € 4.2 billion, as well as for Chemical and Related Products by 11.7, with exports reaching € 2.8 billion in 2017. Exports of Various Industrial Goods advanced by 7.4%, reaching € 1.85 billion in the first eleven months of 2017.

In the forecasts for the evolution of production in the next 3-4 months, the relative balance is higher, at +26 (+18) points, with 32% (from 26%) of the enterprises forecasting a rise in their production of the coming quarter and a 6% reduction (from 8%).